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Centennial Birthday Anniversary of 1 heodore D. Weld. 



From the Hyde Park (Mass.) Historical Record, Vol. IV, 1904. 



ADDRESS BY GENERAL HENRY B. CARRINGTON, 

Lir.RARIAN OF THE SOCIETY. 



The opening of the 19th century witnessed a fresh outburst of 
soul-protest against human slavery. The pioneer agitators for 
general liberty and the extinguishment of all slave trade received 
active support from many earnest New England reformers, and 
four of that number are eminently worthy of notice from their 
intimate and confidential companionship with him whom this 
occasion especially honors. »The four included (besides Mr. 
Weld) John Greenleaf Whittier,' the poet and consecrated cham- 
pion of universal liberty, Elizur Wright, and Hon. Arnold Buffum, 
so long Mayor of Lynn, the-s^nior of the group in years, having 
been born as early as 1782. 

On the 4th of December, 1886, Mrs. Cordelia A. Payson, of 
Hyde Park, gave a reception at her home on Fairmount, under the 
auspices of the Thought Club, in honor of Mr. Whittier's birthday, 
just passed, and invited three of the ^?/«r/^//£', Whittier, Wright 
and Buffum, to meet Mr. Weld, and together extend congratula- 
tions to Mr. Whittier upon the completion of the task to which he 
had, together with them, devoted his life. It fell to my lot to offer 
the birthday tribute, partly in verse and partly in prose, and, 
under instructions of the Hyde Park Thought Club, the same was 
published and sent to Mr. Whittier.* His response was as follows : 

Oak Knob, Danvers, i2 mo. lo, i8S6. 
General H. B. Carrington, 

Dear Friend : — I am glad of the opportunity which thy kind note oiTered me, 
to thank thee for thy contriliution to the exercises of the " Thought Club " of 
Hyde Park, on the 4tii instant, I wish I could feel that I deserve the high 

[*The Tribute appears at the end of this .irticlc.— Ed.] 



compliment of thy tender and beautiful words, but I am truly grateful for them, 
notwithstanding. 

I have tried to serve the cause of Freedom and Humanity, by speech and 
pen, while others, like thyself, have enforced their stern and righteous lessons 
in the dread arbitrament of the battle-field. 

The incident of John Brown's address to thee and thy schoolmates, so long 
ago, is noteworthy. One boy, at least, took to heart the lesson and made it the 
rule of his life. I am very truly thy friend, John G. Whittier. 

He wrote from Amesbury, under date of June 7, 1890, in part 
as follows : " I am glad that my dear friend Weld is recovered from 
his illness. I have had some trouble with the fever and ague, 
and am still suffering from its effects. Will thee kindly remem- 
ber me to dear Weld, and believe me, with high respect and esteem, 
thy aged friend, John G. Whittier," 

On the 14th of July, 1887, he wrote from Centre Harbor, N. H. 
"The passing away of our friends Bufifum and Wright admonishes 
me that the end of earth to me also is near. I am almost the last 
of the old Anti-Slavery company. Of the sixty-three signers of 
the original Declaration of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 
1833, Robert Purvis and myself alone are left." 

" P. S. I am glad to hear of my dear friend Weld's health and 
vigor. He is one of the noblest men I ever knew, God bless him! " 

On the 4th of January, 1889, he also wrote, " If thee see my 
dear old friend Theodore D. Weld, will thee give him my love. 
The death of several has left him and myself alone." The even- 
ing might be spent in similar proof of the tender relations between 
these two heroes who had united their lives in one common con- 
secration to human liberty. 

Mr. Weld, himself, was born at Hampton, Connecticut, Nov. 23, 
1803. One who knew him well says, in a diary, still preserved, 
'* Weld was an athlete, even in boyhood. He antedated Sam 
Patch in leaping from high trees into deep water, and beat Pon- 
tiac himself for riding down straddles. But for his midnight 
drowning in the ice locks ol Alum River, from which he was 
barely restored, he would have lasted into the twentieth century." 
He entered Exeter, a small boy, at the age often, but failing eye- 
sight compelled him to leave for Philadelphia. In 1833 he became 



Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and also initiated 
a system of Manual Labor schools, of which notice will again be 
made. As a student at Lane Theological Seminary, at Cincinnati, 
he soon attracted attention by his wonderful vocal and oratorical 
powers, which would hold vast audiences in rapturous delight, or 
arouse them to wild passion of approval or dissent. Mobs repeat- 
edly attempted to drown his voice, and, as often, police protection 
was needed to save him from violence, although his nerve never 
weakened and he never exhibited fear as to the outcome of des- 
perate and impassioned appeals in behalf of humanity. In a 
diary of Elizabeth Whittier, sister of the poet, his visits to her 
brother are described as " if an archangel had entered their home," 
and her language halts in the attempt to describe " the magical 
power and richness of his voice, the benignity of his manner, and the 
Godlike attributes of his very presence." 

President Joseph R. Tuttle. late of Wabash College, then a stu- 
dent in Lane Seminary, took notes of one great speech of this 
" Thunderer of the West " and contributed it as "The masterpiece of 
American eloquence for liberty," to the " Patriotic Reader," now in 
use in our own schools as well as those of Boston, Philadelphia, 
and other chief cities. With all this matchless eloquence, fear- 
lessness and aggressiveness of statement, he was thoroughly 
gentle, modest, self-denying, charitable and magnanimous. A 
few incidents mark his type of character during his student 
years. Class jealousies were so rife that lots were demanded as 
to choice of rooms, of which there were indeed too few. The 
excitement became heated. Weld, upon drawing second choice, 
declined to use it, preferring to take his chances at the end. The 
lottery fell through and an amicable adjustment was realized. A 
slovenly aud unsavory candidate for a room could find no room- 
mate. Weld offered him a part of his room. A deep well, lined 
with moss-covered stone, was dangerous, but required clearing. 
No one would either volunteer or obey orders to descend and 
clear it out. Weld made the descent cheerfully, did the work well, 
hoping that "the well was all right at last." He assisted in 
organizing a negro school in a church basement, and although 



three young ladies were nominally in charge, several students 
took their turn in teaching geography, grammar and arithmetic. 
The success was moderate, until Weld proposed to start hymns 
for a change. This was a new inspiration, and after the experi- 
ment was a success, he triumphantly exclaimed at the close of the 
exercise, " Bless the Lord! they can sing!" An English aboli- 
tionist sent him a desk, and with it $25 in gold. This he spent 
for the school, although his own brother immediately received a 
letter, "begging for a little money, just to buy a few shirts." 
This unselfishness marked his entire life. 

« 

Upon leaving the Seminary for more open public life as a 
travelling anti-slavery orator, he met frequent opposition from 
mobs. Having secured a church at Granville, Ohio, for a lecture, 
a mob at its close threatened to destroy the building if he again 
attempted to occupy its platform. Upon meeting the trustees 
and stating the threat, he responded to their anxious inquiry as 
to what was to be done, "Let them do it if they dare. I will 
then speak standing upon its foundation ! " To a committee of the 
mob who repeated the threat, he sent this message: "Come on! 
Come on ! We will entertain you, but you must bring your own 
winding sheets. I can't supply them!" He then delivered six 
lectures without interruption. At Painesville, Ohio, a stalwart 
ruffian beat a bass drum near his stand to drown his voice. 
His disregard of the instrument, his powerful voice, captivating 
manner, and graceful bearing, so impressed his audience, that one 
of the most violent of the threatening mob suddenly rushed at 
the drum and kicked the head, yelling, " I'm bound to hear him 
through. Be decent as //c is, if you know how!" He left the 
ground with cheers instead of hisses. His fairness, sincerity, 
fervor and courage, with a remarkably assertive physique, brought 
victory. Even as late as 1S63, Rev. S. J. May, of Syracuse, 
declared that "'Wendell Phillips, as an orator, was his only rival 
in the cause of liberty " ; but failure of his voice silenced his later 
participation in similar engagements. 

It was at one of the Manual Labor Boarding Schools, located at 
Torringford, Conn., and conducted by Rev. Erasmus Goodman, the 
Congregational minister, and Dr. Erastus Hudson, the village 



physician, both noted abolitionists, that John Brown, coming from 
his home at New Hartford, addressed the pupils upon the horrors 
of the slave trade, showing diagrams of slave-ship decks and their 
treatment. The late Rev. Dr. W. W. Patton, President of 
Howard University, Washington, has passed away, and no other 
pupil than myself is living. Both teachers were afterwards 
mobbed, Mr. Goodman dying in a hospital at Chicago, where Dr. 
Patton administered to his dying needs. John Brown, over- 
whelmed by his theme, called for a rising vote of all who would seek 
the termination of human slavery upon reaching manhood, and his 
famous words of blessing upon those who stood to their feet were 
never forgotten by the class thus addressed. Rev. Horace Day, 
a Yale graduate, the Latin Instructor, recently deceased, was the 
instructor who, at the request of the visitor, called up the 
Geography Class to hear his appeal. [ See Note.] 

In 1 84 1 Mr. Weld became editor of the American Anti-Slavery 
publications at Washington, D. C, and was the especial compan- 
ion of those members of Congress who favored the " Abolition of 
Slavery in the District of Columbia," In 1864 he established at 
Inglewood, New Jersey, a school ( said to be the first) for the 
joint education of both white and black youth. He had married 
Miss Angeline Emily Grimke, daughter of Judge John Grimke 
of South Carolina, in 1828, who joined the Friends in Philadelphia 
in 1835, and she at once emancipated the slaves inherited from 
her parents' property. In 1827 he published a book upon the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and another upon 
"The Bible on Slavery;" in 1841 he published "American 
Slavery as it is, of 1,000 Voices," and in London, the same year, a 
volume entitled "Slavery and the Slave Trade, as it is in the 
United States." Others present will give his record in the 
various trusts held by him since his residence in Hyde Park. 

Note. — ^John Brown's strange words to the Torringford School boys, as given 
by Dr. Patton to the students of Howard University many years ago, and as 
afterwards confirmed by Mr. Day, were these : " Now, may God Aimiglity, my 
Father, your Father, and the African's Father; Jesus of Nazareth, my Saviour, 
your Saviour, and the African's Saviour, and the Holy Ghost, my Comforter, 
your Comforter, and the African's Comforter, bring you early to Jesus, and 
enable you to redeem your pledge." 



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My personal relations with Mr. Whittier brought 
myself into very close companionship soon after my removal here 
from Boston, and his exalted spirituality comported fully with his 
undying devotion to whatever elevated American youth as well 
as men. His sphere of thought seemed to emit a divine radiance 
that illumined his very face, fascinating all with whom he had 
intercourse. His devotion to Mr Whittier had no limit. Even 
when the poet wrote sarcastic but half-playful verses, upon his 
deserting him and taking a wife, even declining to attend the 
the ceremony, there was no jog in their common step, and the 
"playful doggerel," as Mr. Weld styled the production, was a 
passing jest. 

A few words are justly due to the memory of the other two, 
who visited Hyde Park together, and rightly have a place in our 
local historical record. Arnold Buffum, once Mayor of Lynn, 
born in Smithfield, R. I., in 1782, was a warm friend of Lafayette 
and was his guest in Paris. Lafayette, with the approval of Wash- 
ington, had bought a plantation worked by slaves, to test the 
possibility of giving them education and mechanical training in 
connection with their emancipation. Bufifum also escorted 
Frederick Douglass on his first trip to England, as well as defied 
conductors who refused Mr. Douglass a seat in the car with him 
when first visiting Lynn. In 1832 he was associated with Garri- 
son in the publication of the "Emancipator" and was President of 
the New England Anti-Slavery Society. 

Elizur Wright, another of the quartette, was born in 1804; 
graduated at Yale in 1836: was also Secretary of the American 
Anti-Slavery Society during 1833, and for a time editor of the 
"Emancipator." He published " Human Rights" in 1834-5, and 
soon after published, in London, an "Introduction to Whittier's 
Ballads." 

In this fitly-named '' Weld Ha'l," with his life-like portrait 
smiling upon our interview, it may not be too much to say, that 
as a friend and example to our youth, a pattern of good citizen- 
ship, and a model of Christian grace, bearing and accomplishments, 
we have yet to place upon our records the name of any to be 
classed as his superior. 



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GENERAL H. B. CARRINGTON'S TRIBUTE, 

In response to the Sentiment, " We honor John G. Whit tier, the Christian 

Poet and Patriot," at the '' Whittier Evening" of the Thought 

Club oj Hyde Park, December 4, 1SS6. 



On the sharp Sicilian promontory, past which the dreaded currents swept 
the tempest-driven mariner as he shunned Scylla, only the more to dread the 
sister rock, Charybdis, there lived an aged sire, whose life, just fading out, had 
been given to a single purpose from his early youth. 

About his quiet cavern home, just on the cliff, the stunted stumps, trimmed 
closely, to suit their master's vifill, were strung with woven strands of silk, of 
varied size and length; and, save the random visits of such as sought his 
counsels, their tremulous response to the passing winds was his sole companion- 
ship. 

He was the weather seer; and upon a stone, worn hollow by the use of 
years, he sat, hour after hour, with his chin bowed beneath his knees, supported 
by his hands, and his white beard and undipped locks reaching to the earth, 
as he gave ear to the voices of the winds. 

Not when the sharp treble screamed shrill notes, piercing painfull)' the ears 
of maidens clambering upward to seek some cheering words of lovers absent on 
the main ; not when the deep-toned bass yielded its solemn melody and 
warning cadence, in unison with the surf that pounded the rocky coast below; 
but when each string just lent its burden to the chorus, not one lost, nor one 
oppressive, did his words declare the safety of those upon the sea, or bid his 
inquiring guests depart, to launch new ventures for happy issues. 

The weather seer was wise, because he read aright the lesson of the winds, 
that harmony in law and action gives perfect safety in the realm of nature, and 
harmony is not sameness, but the sum of all influences maturing toward the 
Infinite. 

Higher than nature in its strange and seemingly fantastic forms is the 
master work of nature's Master, man. Strange are the cords that vibrate in 
our souls. Now sharp, keen notes of strife ; then stormy outbursts of fire and 
passion; and then, at once, the tenderest lullabies that woo the child's caress, 
and sighs as gentle as the whisper of the angels. 

Man, who should be in full harmony of faculty and expression with those of 
the Infinite Father, is most discordant when life takes shape or mood from fitful 
eddies and yields not its every force to the complete control of Him who doeth 
all things well. 

But life, thus chastened, poised and nerved, imparts fresh dignity to man. 
Its trenchant words or blows break rivets that hold the soul and forms of men 
in chains. Its gushing sympathies o'erflow the wastes of despairing anguish, 



and lift the oppressed to cheer and hope and happiness. Envy, of such , is lost 
in the magic of their tender sway. Detraction shrinks away from the brightness 
of their benevolence. Passion is foiled by the supremacy of conscience, and the 
enmity of the bad finds no chance for assault, when that life is lived, alone to 
bless, and drops its charities and its goodness, like the cloud.s of heaven, for all 
alike. 



There are thoughts and times, which, closely fitted. 
Give birth to nations, g^randeur to a life. 
Enfolding; In their marvellous emlirace, 
Such spur to action, and such lofty aims. 
That perpetual fruitage is their end. 
And all mankind take impress, never lost! 

Such thoughts,, from heaven derived, and nurtured, too. 
Reflect the yearnings iiifinile which plead 
For man's redemption from the curse of sin; 
And when .some human soul, by them controlled, 
Commands its life to do their blessed work, 
A brighter age begins, and man is saved. 

Such times are burdened with the grievous ills 
That mark the sweep of frenzied passion. 
Grinding dependent ones beneath its heel; 
And in the onslaught of the fearful hour. 
Invoking e'en the spirits of the blest, 
To cry in anguished sympathy, " How long \ " 

Blessed be they who live in times like these, 
And, rising to the plane of stern demand. 
Surrender thought, and self, and earthly gain. 
To the mission of the solemn hour. 
To rescue mortals — themselves immortal, 
And thus take parf in earth's deliverance. 

I knew of one, whose thoughts, in jnst such times 
Had caught their inspiring force from heavenly grace; 
Whose heart beat true with " Over Heart" above; 
Whose life took pattern from the Son of Man, 
And humbly made lUs mission guide his own, 
" I^ayiug up treasure, that survives all else." 

'* <), loved of thousands," spared to us awhile. 

Thy "hidden thoughts," thy " spirit tried ami true," 

Thy " gentle deeds," tliy words so full of power. 

Shall never lose their gladsome, magic sway ; 

Shall never fail to nerve out heart and hand, 

" Till Truth and Right shall reign, the earth throughout." 

Poet and scholar, Christian, brother, friend. 
Beloved of all, and in thy love embracing all; 
Thy mission, like the misson of the Master, 
Rut sought to bring again "Gotl's Image " fair 
To sullering slave and struggling man, oppressed. 
That earth might bear foretaste of i>ara<lise. 

Stay, O stay ! if thus the Father wills, 

While yet, sweet " Freedom's Voices " fill the ear ; 

And in the fullness of thy work, well <loiie, 

Though canst rejoice with us, who honor thee, 

That in the times when l^iberty was lost, 

Thy thoughts kept faith with God's, and freedom came. 

The swift-winged hours shall bear us <piic.kly hence. 

Ami yet, the parting on this hither shore 

Is bul ihc change ol guard in <'aii)paign watches; 

And when the struggle einis in victory, 

We'll tune our voices to the unison 

Of ceaseless melody, in heaven, with thee. 




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